Artificial horns for rodeo steers and method of constructing same

ABSTRACT

The disclosure teaches a novel artificial horn device for use on a short horned steer to simulate the structure of a long horn steer such as is used in rodeo events, e.g., bulldogging, steer roping, etc., and a method of constructing same. A pair of hollow artificial horns filled with mastic are pressed onto the short immature horns of a steer. A tie bar is positioned on top of the crown of the steer&#39;&#39;s head overlapping the base portion of the horn. Plaster of paris or other suitable hardening plastic material is built around the base of the horns, the tie bar and a portion of the crown of the steer&#39;&#39;s head to a thickness sufficient to bind together the tie bar and the horns and lend additional support between the base of the horns and the head of the steer. The device is a semi-permanent structure which may be removed after it has served its purpose, without injury to the steer.

States Patent [1 1 1111 3,766,889

Mills et al. [451 Oct. 23, 1973 [5 ARTIFICIAL HORNS FOR RODEO STEERS Primary Examiner-Hugh R. Chamblee AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING SAME Att0rneyCharles E. Gates 1 [76] Inventors: Thomas Lewis Mills, PO. Box 1058,

Rt. 5, Phoenix, Ariz.; Tim Luverne ABSTRACT Anton, 3643 Friel' w Phoenix, The disclosure teaches a novel artificial horn device AriZ- 85 for use on a short horned steer to simulate the struc- IZZ] Fund: 12,1973 ture of a long horn steer such as is used in rodeo events, e.g., bulldogging, steer roping, etc., and a 1 1 PP NQJ 331,687 1 method of constructing same. A pair of hollow artificial horns filled with mastic are pressed onto the short 52 11.5. C1. .1 119/144 immature horns A is 51 int. Cl 1. A01k 17/00 tOP of Crown of the steers head OverlaPPmg "7 58 Field of Search 119/144; 128/76 D base POrtlon of Plaster Of Paris or Other 7 able hardening plastic material is built around the base [56] References Cited of the horns, the tie bar and a portion of the crown of the steers head to a thickness sufficient to bind to- UNITED STATES PATENTS gether'the tie bar and the horns and lend additional 2,123,603 7/1938 Henderson 119/144 Support b t h b f h horns and the head of 2,897,730 8/1959 Ayl'es 9/144 X the steer. The device is a semi-permanent structure 3,052,216 9/1962 Blunt et al. 119/144 which may be removed after it has erved its purpose,

without injury to the steer.

12 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures ARTIFICIAL HORNS RODEO STEERS AND METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING SAME BACKGROUND OF TH E INVENTION Rodeo events are widespread and popular spectator sports. Certain of the events, particularly bulldogging and steer roping, requirethe use of large numbers of young steers. It is necessary that these young steers have horns of sufficient size and strength to withstand the stress of the events. For example, in the bulldogging event a rider chases a running steer on horseback and drops from his horse to the ground while simultaneously grasping the steer by its horns. He then throws the steer to the ground by twisting the horns. In roping, the steer is caught by the horns and restrained by that means as part of the event.

The longhorn steers needed in these eventsare expensive to produce. At present a steer with horns of the required size costs about twice as much as a steer with small horns, and may be used no more than about 6 weeks in practicing the rodeo events described. At the end of the 6 weeks, the average steer has learned to frustrate further use of him by balking or taking evasive action. Inasmuch as a major part of the value of the longhorn steer is in his utility as a rodeo animal, at the end of the 6 weeks he becomes worth half as much as he was before. To compound the difficulty, from time to time longhorn steers are in short supply and not enough can be obtained to satisfy the demand.

This problem has led to the invention of a prior art device which is essentially an elaborate harness surrounding the steers head and which is'designed to be used on hornless steers. This device has to be put on and taken off each time it is used becuase the steer can not graze with the device attached. Anotherdisadvantage of the prior. art is that the head harness arrangement can not be completely tightened. No matter how snugly the belts and buckles are engaged, the device can rotate to'20 under working pressures. This can be disastrous to a bulldogger who could take a tumble and suffer serious injury as a result of thezrotation of the device on the steers head. Because of this disadyoung steer, braced and strengthened by means of a tieing bar placed between the horns. on top of the steers head in overlapping relationship to the base of the horns, and made fast and secure by tying the elements together with plaster of paris or other suitable plastic hardening material. It is found that such artificial horns are much stronger than natural horns and will not rotate on the steers head.

Another surprising result is that ropes used on the horns of this invention do not break as often as they do on ordinary horns. This is an important feature because there is a danger of injury to the roper whenever a rope breaks. The rope used for steer roping is customarily 7/16 inch nylon rope. When the steer is roped and restrained the rope exerts great force on the natural horns If they break, the rope snaps back with great force and may injure the roper if he is struck with the rebounding end. It is, therefore, an additional advantage to lessen the frequency of rope breakage.

The method of constructing the artificial horns on the head of the steer is as follows: A horn pad is slipped over each horn to provide a seat for the artificial horns. This step may be omitted, if desired.

A pair of hollow artificial horns of the desired length are selected. The parts of the horn are defined as the point and the base which is at the end opposite the point. The base has a cavity for reception of a natural short horn. The hollow portion (cavity) of the horn is treated with a suitable plastic, preferably a nonhardening type, and the horns are pressed into place over the immature horns of a young steer, such that the base of the artificial horn is in proximity to the head of the steer around the base of the natural horn. A lubricant may be applied to the natural horns as an additional step. The next step is to position a tie bar of sufficient length to overlap the base of the artificial horns, preferably at the crown or on top of thehead of the steer. The tie bar maybe resiliently flexible, but preferably rigid. Then plaster of paris or other suitable plastic substance, which will set up and harden after being applied, is formed around the base of the artificial horns, enveloping the tie bar and a portion of the vantage, the prior artdevice is very seldom used by OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of'this invention to provide artificial horns which are permanently fixed in place for the useful rodeo time of the steer, and which, therefore, need not be removed after each use, or adjusted be tween uses. V

A further object is to provide a simply constructed, secure device which will not rotate on the steers head under working pressures.

Yet another ojbect is to provide longer horns on steer that are stronger than the original short horns.

Another object is to provide horns as described which can be removed easily when the rodeo usefulness of the steer is gone.

Also, an object of this invention is to provide a method of constructinghorns as described above on a steer having short horns.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the teachings of this invention a pair of artificial hollow horns are filled with a plastic substance, superimposed over the immature horns of a bulldoggers.

crown of the steers head, including the portion of the head around the base of the artificial horn which may be conveniently a thickness sufficient to give added support to the artificial horns between the base of the horns and the head of the steer.

The device is simple, easy-to install, and may be easily removed by cracking the plaster and removing the parts when its usefulness is done. A minimum of parts and minimum of labor to install the parts are required.

An added advantage is that the weight of the apparatus tends to restrain the head of a rambunctious young steer, thus adding a degree of safety to the practice of the bulldogging and roping exercises. It is believed that this phenomenon may also be a factor in lengthening the life of the ropes inasmuch as the rope is forced up DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Turning now to the drawings in which a presently preferred embodiment of this invention and the method for constructing the same is depicted, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a view of a head of an immature steer with short nubbins of horns with horn pads in place;

FIG. 2 is the same view showing a pair of artificial horns pressed into place over the short natural horns of the steer, one horn of the pair having been sectioned to show the interior construction;

FIG. 3 shows the placement of the tie bar in relationship to the horns;

.FIG. 4 shows the application of tape to the ends of the tie bar and the horns to temporarily secure them pending the next step;

FIG. 5 shows the finished product after the final step of applying the plaster of paris, with the position of the base of the horns and the tie bar encased within the plaster of paris being shown in phantom outline;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a horn pad.

Horn pads l are positioned over the natural short horns 2 of a steer. This protects thehead from irritation by the horns and plastic. The next step is to treat the cavity 4 of each hollow artificial horn 6 with a suitable plastic, conveniently a mixture of polyester resins and inert fillers in approximately equal parts, such as used in auto, body repair, and sold under the trademarks Bondo and Slick. These products are sometimes referred to as flexible plastic solders. Approximately enough space in the horns 6 is left for the short horns 2 and with experience this can be estimated closely. Next the horns 6 are positioned on horns 2 and any excess plastic 7 may be wiped off; the exact amount of plastic 7 in the horns 6 is not critical. Next a tie bar 8 is positioned on the crown portion 10 of the steers head 12.The next step, which may be omitted, if desired, is to temporarily secure the tie bar 8 in overlapping position to the bases 14 of the horns 6 with tapes 16. And the final step is to form a plaster of paris cast 18 around the tie bar 8, the base 14 of the horns 6, the crown 10 of the steers head 12 including portions 20 adjacent the ends 22 of the horns 6 at the bases 14.

The artificial horns 6 positioned over the natural horns 2 may be made of any hard finish plastic, and artificial horns suitable for use are available on the market as ornamental horns for walls. An aluminum bar 8 bridges the base ends 14 of horns 2 and the base 14 of the horn 2 is covered with plaster of paris cast 12 which covers the crown 10 of the head 12 around-the bases 14 of the horn 10 to provide additional support between the bases 14 of the artificial horns 6 and the head of the steer. This results in an essentially monolithic structure comprising the plaster of paris around the crown 10, the artificial horns 6 and the tie bar 8. As an optional part of the device, straps maybe suspended from the'horns 6 near the base 14, either under or over the cast, to be used to tie under the chin. This is not necessary, however, and it is an advantage of this invention that no under-the-chin support is required.

Variations and equivalent structures will occur to those skilled in the art, all of which are within the spirit and scope of the invention which is to be limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

ll. The method of constructing long artificial horns on the short natural horns of a young steer, comprising the steps of:

a. filling hollow artificial horns with a plastic substance;

b. pressing the plastic filled horns onto the natural horns;

c. bridging the space between said artificial horns with a tie bar; d. forming a cast of hardening material around the bases of said artificial horns and said tie bar and around a portion of the crown of the steers head in sufficient thickness to make an essentially monolithic structure of the crown, horns and tie bar.

e. allowing said hardening material to harden.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said hardening material is plaster of paris.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the plastic material is a mixture of .polyester resins and inert fillers in approximately equal parts.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the tie bar is substantially rigid.

5. The method of claim 1 with the additional step of first positioning a horn pad around the natural horns at the base thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 with the additional step of lubricating the natural horns before pressing the mastic filled horns thereon.

7. In combination with the short natural horns of a young steer, an artificial long horn device comprising a pair of hollow horns fitted over said short horns, plastic disposed within said long horns to substantially fill the cavity not occupied by said short horns, a tie bar bridging the space between said artificial horns, and a cast of hardened material disposed around the bases of the artificial horns and said tie bar.

8. The device of claim 7 further comprising horn pads disposed around the bases of the natural horns.

9. The device of claim 7 wherein the plastic is a mixture of polyester resins and inert fillers in approximately equal parts.

10. The device of claim 7 wherein the tie bar is substantially rigid.

l1. The device of claim 7 wherein'the cast of hardened material is plaster of paris.

12. The device of claim 7 wherein said cast has sufficient thickness vbetween the bases of said artificial horns and the head of the steer to lend support tosaid horns. 

1. The method of constructing long artificial horns on the short natural horns of a young steer, comprising the steps of: a. filling hollow artificial horns with a plastic substance; b. pressing the plastic filled horns onto the natural horns; c. bridging the space between said artificial horns with a tie bar; d. forming a cast of hardening material around the bases of said artificial horns and said tie bar and around a portion of the crown of the steer''s head in sufficient thickness to make an essentially monolithic structure of the crown, horns and tie bar. e. allowing said hardening material to harden.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said hardenIng material is plaster of paris.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the plastic material is a mixture of polyester resins and inert fillers in approximately equal parts.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the tie bar is substantially rigid.
 5. The method of claim 1 with the additional step of first positioning a horn pad around the natural horns at the base thereof.
 6. The method of claim 1 with the additional step of lubricating the natural horns before pressing the mastic filled horns thereon.
 7. In combination with the short natural horns of a young steer, an artificial long horn device comprising a pair of hollow horns fitted over said short horns, plastic disposed within said long horns to substantially fill the cavity not occupied by said short horns, a tie bar bridging the space between said artificial horns, and a cast of hardened material disposed around the bases of the artificial horns and said tie bar.
 8. The device of claim 7 further comprising horn pads disposed around the bases of the natural horns.
 9. The device of claim 7 wherein the plastic is a mixture of polyester resins and inert fillers in approximately equal parts.
 10. The device of claim 7 wherein the tie bar is substantially rigid.
 11. The device of claim 7 wherein the cast of hardened material is plaster of paris.
 12. The device of claim 7 wherein said cast has sufficient thickness between the bases of said artificial horns and the head of the steer to lend support to said horns. 